Smoking articles, such as cigarettes, cigars and pipes traditionally create smoke by burning tobacco. Traditional cigarettes, cigars and pipes rely upon the combustion of the tobacco leaves associated with the product.
Many smoking devices have been proposed through the years as improvements upon, or alternatives to, smoking products that require combustion of tobacco for use. Many of those devices purportedly have been designed to provide the sensations associated with cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking, but without delivering considerable quantities of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis products that result from the burning of tobacco. To this end, there have been proposed numerous smoking products, flavor generators and medicinal inhalers that utilize electrical energy to vaporize or heat a volatile material, or attempt to provide the sensations of cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking without burning tobacco to a significant degree. See, for example, the various alternative smoking articles, aerosol delivery devices and heat generating sources set forth in the background art described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,320 to Robinson et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,881,737 to Collett et al., which are incorporated herein by reference. See also, for example, the various types of smoking articles, aerosol delivery devices and electrically-powered heat generating sources referenced by brand name and commercial source in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2015/0216232 to Bless et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, various types of electrically powered aerosol and vapor delivery devices also have been proposed in U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2014/0096781 to Sears et al. and 2014/0283859 to Minskoff et al., as well as U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/282,768 to Sears et al., filed May 20, 2014; Ser. No. 14/286,552 to Brinkley et al., filed May 23, 2014; Ser. No. 14/327,776 to Ampolini et al., filed Jul. 10, 2014; and Ser. No. 14/465,167 to Worm et al., filed Aug. 21, 2014; all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Other aerosol generating smoking articles have also been known for many years that rely upon heat generated by a fuel source, such as charcoal, instead of being electrically powered. Examples of this type of product can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,907,686 to Siegel; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,258,015 and 3,356,094 to Ellis et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,374 to Bennett; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,943,941 and 4,044,777 to Boyd et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,604 to Ehretsmann et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,544 to Hardwick et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,072 to Bolt et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,714 to Shannon and U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,292 to Sensabaugh, Jr. et al.